Lair of the White Worm eBook

Meanwhile, during most of the time that Mimi Salton
had been moving warily along in the gloom, she was
in reality being followed by Lady Arabella, who had
caught sight of her leaving the house and had never
again lost touch with her. It was a case of the
hunter being hunted. For a time Mimi’s
many turnings, with the natural obstacles that were
perpetually intervening, caused Lady Arabella some
trouble; but when she was close to Castra Regis, there
was no more possibility of concealment, and the strange
double following went swiftly on.

When she saw Mimi close to the hall door of Castra
Regis and ascending the steps, she followed.
When Mimi entered the dark hall and felt her way
up the staircase, still, as she believed, following
Lady Arabella, the latter kept on her way. When
they reached the lobby of the turret-rooms, Mimi
believed that the object of her search was ahead of
her.

Edgar Caswall sat in the gloom of the great room,
occasionally stirred to curiosity when the drifting
clouds allowed a little light to fall from the storm-swept
sky. But nothing really interested him now.
Since he had heard of Lilla’s death, the gloom
of his remorse, emphasised by Mimi’s upbraiding,
had made more hopeless his cruel, selfish, saturnine
nature. He heard no sound, for his normal faculties
seemed benumbed.

Mimi, when she came to the door, which stood ajar,
gave a light tap. So light was it that it did
not reach Caswall’s ears. Then, taking
her courage in both hands, she boldly pushed the door
and entered. As she did so, her heart sank,
for now she was face to face with a difficulty which
had not, in her state of mental perturbation, occurred
to her.

CHAPTER XXVII—­ON THE TURRET ROOF

The storm which was coming was already making itself
manifest, not only in the wide scope of nature, but
in the hearts and natures of human beings. Electrical
disturbance in the sky and the air is reproduced in
animals of all kinds, and particularly in the highest
type of them all—­the most receptive—­the
most electrical. So it was with Edgar Caswall,
despite his selfish nature and coldness of blood.
So it was with Mimi Salton, despite her unselfish,
unchanging devotion for those she loved. So
it was even with Lady Arabella, who, under the instincts
of a primeval serpent, carried the ever-varying wishes
and customs of womanhood, which is always old—­and
always new.

Edgar, after he had turned his eyes on Mimi, resumed
his apathetic position and sullen silence. Mimi
quietly took a seat a little way apart, whence she
could look on the progress of the coming storm and
study its appearance throughout the whole visible circle
of the neighbourhood. She was in brighter and
better spirits than she had been for many days past.
Lady Arabella tried to efface herself behind the now
open door.